Snowed In
by ahmandie
Summary: COMPLETE. Natsu x Lucy. A much needed job to a frozen mountain goes awry as Natsu and Lucy are forced to rough it and spend the night with only each other for company.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I can't decide which I'd rather own more: Fairy Tail or Harry Potter. Or Naruto. or Bleach. Decisions, Decisions.

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Chapter 1

Lucy was, to plainly put it, freaking cold.

The mission had gone horribly wrong, something unexpected--a gargantuan avalanche--had occurred and instead of being warm and toasty in the village below, she and Natsu were stranded somewhere on the side of the frozen mountain. They were able to divert the avalanche away from the village but they had ended up far from the path, with a limited amount of provisions.

Thankfully, Natsu had found a small cave of sorts, and was busy clearing it out while Lucy gathered as much firewood as she could find. Happy had flown back to the village to make sure the inhabitants were safe. 'They'd probably keep him there overnight,' she thought, 'It would be too dangerous for him to fly at night with no lights.'

'How did I end up in this situation?!' she grumbled to herself, shivering in her boots and clutching the twigs she'd found. 'And how could we end up AWAY from the forest? There's hardly any firewood...'

She sighed and looked towards the horizon. They were totally isolated and it was nearly dusk. Daylight was fading fast and unless she and Natsu had some shelter soon, they'd both freeze to death in the unforgiving frozen expanse of Blanche Peaks.

"Damn rent," she muttered, hurrying back to the makeshift shelter, while in her mind she replayed the reasons for which she might not last the night.

"I...need...a job," moaned Lucy, papers fluttering as she frantically sorted through the job notices.

"How about this one?" she questioned, holding up a flyer, advertising a 100,000 Jewel reward. M'aybe I can earn rent and have some extra left for that cute dress! ' she thought with a grin, her eyes widening, until the words, 'Be my escort for a week! Must have at least a 34DD to apply,' rose up from the page, accompanied with a picture of a creepy looking, bald old man holding a riding crop.

...Ugh, never mind.

With a sigh, she dejectedly sank onto a barstool, her head hitting the counter with a thud.

Rent. Rent. Rent. In life, there was always something to worry about, and in Lucy's life, Rent was the number one problem. Food, not so much. She could always find something at the Guild headquarters. Keys? Not really, it's not like Golden Keys were common enough that every Department Store in Fiore carried them, so she didn't have to worry about buying those. But It would be so easy to just dip into the Heartphilia fortune and...

'No,' Lucy thought, her lips set in a determined grimace, 'I won't rely on my family to live my life. That's why I need a job...'

"Aww, what's wrong?"

Lucy looked up to see Mirajane, a concerned look on her face as she dried off plates.

"Oh Mira, my rent is due next week! I need a job!" Lucy wailed, "And there's nothing on the board but requests for call girls!"

"Hmm, that must be because of the Master. I told him to stop accepting those," said Mira, pouring a glass of iced tea for Lucy, "But a job you say? Let me think."

She slid the glass towards Lucy, who took a thankful gulp. "You know, I might have something in mind!" Mira said, clapping her hands together.

"Really? I'll take it! Anything!" Lucy said excitedly.

Mira smiled and brought forth a flyer from behind the bar. "I guess it's kinda like a job," she explained, sliding the paper towards Lucy, "We're hiring you to help someone complete their job, but you have your own objective."

Lucy quickly scanned the paper. 'Hmm,' she thought, 'Let's see. Objective is to make sure the assigned Guild member does not cause excessive damage to the surroundings and environment of the assignment.' It seemed easy enough. It didn't seem too bad to work with someone from the Guild, she got along with most of Fairy Tail.

Assigned Guild member? Lucy couldn't find any name on the job flyer. "Um, Mira, who am I assigned to? There doesn't seem to be a name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mira apologetically laughed, "My mistake. Let's see, for this job, we'd like you to accompany Natsu on his mission to Blanche Peak."

"Natsu?" asked Lucy, confused, "I usually go with Natsu, Gray, and Erza. You don't need to pay me to go with him."

Mira smiled. "We would have liked Gray to go on this job, but Gray and Erza are already booked for a mission in Saffron Ridge later today. So specifically, we're asking you to make sure Natsu doesn't unintentionally melt a glacier, cause an avalanche, or endanger the community of Blanche."

"Oh I see, like damage control."

'...control Natsu? All by myself?' thought Lucy, picturing herself screaming as an imaginary, crazed Natsu cackled and caused all sorts of destruction onto a defenseless village.

"Don't worry," consoled Mirajane, sensing the doubt growing in Stellar Spirit mage. "I'm sure you can do it, and he seems quite responsive to you."

"Oh? Are you talking about a dog?" asked Happy, fluttering down to the counter. "Sorry, I'm not really a dog person. They don't listen to me at all."

"Dogs? Of course not, silly," laughed Mira, "Lucy will accompany you and Natsu on your mission to Blanche Peak."

Happy wore a puzzled expression on his face. "A mission! What does that have to do with dogs? And Natsu? Where is Natsu, by the way?"

Mirajane leaned onto the counter, resting her face on her hand. "I'm not sure, it's been pretty quiet around lately."

Lucy sat up straight, lifting her arms up to stretch her back. "Maybe he's at the mark--" she said, just as a tangle of limbs and fists flying exploded into the hall with a loud BANG.

"Enough!" Mira cried, throwing her towel at the fighting duo, "Don't you have jobs to go on? Some of them are quite urgent!"

Lucy sighed again. She seemed to be doing a lot of sighing lately. She absentmindedly tapped her fingers on her glass as she waited until a dragon scaled scarf emerged from the tumble, followed by a Fairy Tail stamped shoulder, then finally a fiery head of red hair.

She got off her seat and opened her mouth to say something to that head of red hair, but it suddenly thrust itself back into the mix. She sighed one more time and turned back to her drink. Mirajane smiled apologetically, gave her an understanding pat on the head, and returned to other patrons of the bar.

"Oi, Natsu!" cried Happy, "Lucy's gonna come with us to the mountain!"

"Really? You're coming, Lucy?" said Natsu turning to grin at her as he pulled the tangle of limbs, which was Gray, into an armbar, knocking over the recently vacant chairs to his left. "It'll be more fun now!"

"Why you little--," Gray yelled, twisting out of Natsu's hold to smack the Salamander with his right shoe.

Natsu glared at Gray incredulously, and jumped back into the fray, shouting, "You hit me with a shoe!"

Happy turned to Lucy. "You know, we should leave soon, right? It would be best to get there before nightfall. I heard it gets so cold over there, and I don't want to get lost."

"You're right, Happy," Lucy said, glancing at her watch. It would take half a day to get to Blanche on the train and it was almost 10 in the morning. They'd have to leave soon to make it in time.

"Ohhhhhh Happy?," Lucy suddenly exclaimed in a loud voice, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Yesssss Lucy?" Happy replied.

"Is that ERZA I see over there?"

"Why yes, Lucy, I do believe I see ERZA and she looks very angry. Oh my, how ERZA'S sword looks mighty pointy today!"

"Maybe you, me, and Natsu should go pack, before ERZA comes?" Lucy said, as she and Happy strolled out the door, giggling. She didn't have to look to know that Gray had hightailed it and Natsu had followed them out.

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**A/N**: Chapter 1 is out! I'm so excited!

I've been waiting a while to put this out, especially when I found out there wasn't that much Fairy Tail fics out there...but I've been working on Chapter 2 so please review! Much Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: It's my birthday today! So before I go gallivanting around, I decided to update a little earlier then planned. Yay, what a good day. :

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Chapter 2

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy had come to Blanche Peak at the request of the Blanche village elders. Once he had recovered from the train ride, (_I'll never ride a train again! he had said, collapsing in the road) _they had asked Natsu to clear a small path through the forest which allowed them access to the top of the mountain. But Natsu had gotten...carried away.

_'No, no, Lucy, it's much faster if we do it this way!_ ' He had exclaimed, leaping upwards to roundhouse kick the tip of a pine tree with a resonating, fiery smack.

_'Natsu, wait! That might cause an avalanche!_ ' She tried to warn him, but the damage had already been dealt. As the trees began to fall like dominos, snow from the tallest peaks of the mountain began to thunder down the slopes. Taurus, Virgo, and Aquarius were able to divert the blast, and none were too happy. All of her Stellar Spirits (_...Especially Aquarius. 'Don't you DARE you call me for a whole month, you b#' she had yelled_) had all refused to come out again until she'd gotten out of this frozen wasteland.

_"Mrrg,...freaking...RENT," _cursed Lucy, dragging a log towards the cave. "Honestly, the things a girl's gotta to do to make a living around here."

Finally reaching her destination, Lucy dumped whatever wood she had found near the mouth of the cave and surveyed her living quarters for the night. Natsu had managed to find a small cave roughly the size of her bathroom. He had scorched the the rock walls clean of debris and had apparently left to find some firewood.

Removing her pack, she bent to rearrange the contents, groaning in dismay, finding jagged rip in the bottom. '_No blankets or spare clothes? At least I have...two granola bars and a book of matches. How lovely.' _She was wearing a faux-fur lined jacket, a cotton shirt, jeans, and a pair of slim boots. The mission wasn't supposed to be a long one, just get in, do what you gotta do, then get out. Lucy wasn't close to prepared for the frozen tundra.

"Oi, Lucy! Gimme a hand with this!" a voice called. Lucy quickly stood up and dashed out of the cave. She had run a mere 6 feet before she came to a skidding halt, open-mouthed at the sight before her.

"What, cat got your tongue? How can it when there's no cat here!" said Natsu, standing triumphantly on top of his findings, his jacket and dragon-scaled scarf flapping in the wind.

Lucy was...speechless. For, you see, Natsu hadn't brought back a mountain of twigs or a pile of logs, he had brought back...a 40 foot pine tree. Words returned to her as she cleared her throat. "Um...Natsu...what are we going to do with that?"

"Got a lighter or some matches? I'm going to eat it!"

Lucy's mouth dropped. (Literally.) "Eat it?! _EAT_ it? Are you serious? Natsu, that tree is half the size of headquarters! It's HUGE!"

"Well, I'm HUGE-angously hungry!" Natsu retorted, defiantly crossing his arms. "Got a problem with--"

Suddenly, an icy blast of wind plummeted into the pair, spraying them with a shower of sharp crystals of ice. Lucy cried out and was knocked to the ground by the force of the impact. '_A snowstorm? Oh no, I can't reach my keys! And I don't know where the cave is? Where is Natsu?'_ She panicked as she felt her jacket being torn to shreds by the blizzard. The coldness was almost too much to bear. Just as Lucy had managed to stand up, she felt a relatively large piece of ice collide with her temple. Involuntarily taking in a gasp of frigid air, Lucy felt the ground falling from beneath her, her eyelids drooping as the harsh white landscape began to fade to black. But right before her head hit the earth, she felt two warm hands catch her. And then everything went black.

* * *

The first thing Lucy noticed when she woke up wasn't the icy cold air or the hard stone at her back, it was the throbbing coming from the right side of her forehead. Clenching her teeth, she raised her hand to inspect the damage the ice had caused...only to find a simple linen bandage wrapped around her head.

_'My head is killing me but at least my clothes are dry, _she thought, _Natsu must have fixed me up. Natsu?'_ Lucy's eyes widened as she imagined Natsu going back into the storm for his tree. '_He wouldn't do that...would he? And my keys! Where are my keys?'_ She quickly sat up to survey her dark surroundings, but soon regretted it as her quick movements brought stars to her eyes.

"Lucy? Lucy! You're awake!"

Lucy turned, slowly this time, towards the back of the little cave to see a smiling Natsu, crouched over a small fire.

"I found some matches in your pack! But I lost my tree. All we've got left are a few twigs and this poor excuse for a log," he scoffed, gesturing towards the log Lucy had brought back.

"A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet," Lucy retorted.

"Roses? What nonsense are you talking about, woman?"

Lucy sighed. "Shakespeare. It's, ugh, never mind. It means that that's a log, not a very big log, but it'll still burn the same as any other log out there."

Natsu crossed his arms. "Psh, MY log would have burned 10 times hotter then this! This log is _weak._ WEAKsauce."

Shaking her head, Lucy was thankful when she spied her keys hanging from a small nook on the wall. She turned to check the weather outside, but was surprised to see the door blockaded by a thick sheet of ice. '_Oh no...are we trapped in here?'_

Natsu looked up. "Oh. That."

"...What _IS _that?" Lucy asked, turning around, her hand over her mouth. "Are we snowed in? Or...frozen in?"

Much to her surprise, he shook his head. "Grey told me once, that the ice actually keeps the cold air out, so you feel warmer. Guess that idiot knows something useful. So I collected the bigger pieces of ice and melted them together!" He shrugged, proud of his accomplishment. "It took some trial and error but you were asleep for the entire thing."

"So are we stuck here for the night?"

"Mmm, yeah. After you fainted, the storm got worse and those ice chunks got bigger! We'd die if we went out now. But it won't be so bad, look," Natsu said, pointing towards the top left corner off the ice wall, "I made an airhole."

Lucy brushed her hair out of her eyes. "And you'll just melt us out tomorrow morning?"

"Yep!" He grinned, flashing her a thumbs-up sign.

She felt relieved. At least they would be out of the blizzard for the night. But something was missing.Dry clothes, check. Shelter, check. Guildmate OK, check. Food, half-check. Granola wasn't enough for her liking but it would have to do. So what was missing? Puzzled, she continued to look around until it suddenly hit her...

"Hey Natsu..."

"Eh?"

"...where's the bathroom?"

Laughing, Natsu got up and showed her a small square shaped crack in the bottom corner of the ice-door. "See here? You can pull it in like...this," he explained, pulling the little square into the cave. Lucy peered in the crevice to see more ice and a little hole dug into the snow.

Proud of his invention, he continued, "You just do your business and voila! Kick some snow over it! Just remember, don't ever eat yellow snow."

There were no words to describe how thankful Lucy was to have no wish to use the ice-bathroom anytime soon.

After pushing the door back into place, the pair moved back to the makeshift fire. Leaning back against the rock wall, Natsu sighed.

"Well Lucy, it looks like it's just you and me."

_'One whole night. Trapped in a cave with a door made of ice... With Natsu,'_ she thought, making herself comfortable on the cave floor. '_Should I feel weird that it's just me and Natsu?_ _Alone? In a cave?'_ Memories flooded into her mind. Natsu and Grey's brawl. Natsu being train-sick. Natsu teasing Erza. Natsu smiling, introducing her to Fairy Tail. Natsu playfully slinging his arm around her shoulders. Natsu...

'_No, Natsu is a friend. We're friends. He's my friend. I'm his friend. Friends. Nakama! Nothing else.'_

Trying to clear her thoughts, Lucy reached for her pack and fished around for the granola bars. "Look, I have two of these," she said, finding one and tossing it to Natsu, "You get one, I get one, and no eating the fire!"

Too late. Natsu was already bent over the small fire, which had diminished in size, one fist clutching the flame, the other stuffing it into his mouth. "Wut? Buh wuh? Mucy, Mm hungree."

"NOOOO!" Lucy screamed, dropping to her knees to feed the remaining twigs to the dying fire.

"Psh, fuh, fuh," Natsu mumbled, spitting the flame back towards the log. "I won't eat it. You happy now?"

As she desperately fanned the flame, she scolded, "Natsu, that's our lifeblood right now. If you eat it, we'll freeze to death."

"C'mon, it's not even that cold! Just one bite."

"No! Absolutely not," Lucy glared, her hands on her hips "Just because you're a salamander and I'm not, doesn't mean you can condemn me to death! I'm freezing here!"

_'Hmph! Stomach first! Always, feed me, fee--' _Lucy's thoughts were interrupted as something soft hit her face.

Holding it up to the firelight, she questioned with a puzzled look on her face,"...Your scarf?"

His eyes were closed as he straightened out the collar of his jacket. "If you were that cold, you should have said something."

A sly smile on her face, Lucy scooted over to poke at the salamander's cheek. "Remember at Mount Hakobe? Saving Macau? How come you wouldn't loan me your scarf then but you will now? Hmm? Hmmmm?"

Swatting away her fingers, Natsu cleared his throat and lightly shoved her away. "I didn't know you as well then. But now we're friends--_nakama_--and that's what friends do."

"Well thank you, Natsu, I'm much warmer now," laughed Lucy, settling down and opening her granola bar. "I'd much rather be stuck in a small cave with my nakama then with anyone else."

Natsu peered up at Lucy, a hopeful smile on his face. "So now can I eat the flame?"

She glared exasperatedly at him through her blonde bangs, her mouth full of granola. Just as she was about to reiterate why a fire was essential in their situation, a particularly strong gust of wind forced itself through the airhole.

"Will it hold?" Lucy asked, gesturing towards the ice wall.

"Yep. That thing is solid." Natsu got up to tap on the wall with his knucles. "See? Solid."

"How long did it take you to ma--," she said interrupted by the loud wooshing noise of another powerful gust of wind. They both turned to see that the gust was too strong for the small fire, extinguishing it so that only a few sparks remained.

Lucy cried out in dismay, her hands flying to her face. "Noo! Our heat source!" she wailed while Natsu flung himself onto the ground, frantically trying to resuscitate the charred remains of the log. "I can't believe it! I didn't even get to eat it!

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**A/N: **So yeah. Chapter 2! I'm sorry, I know blizzards (and the damsel in distress thing) are so overdone. I needed the blizzard/hail-storm for the ice-wall. I've got plans for it. Lucy's headache too! Wah, I don't want to spoil anything. :

I think total, this will probably be a total or 4 chapters. I want to write a longer, multi-chaptered fic, but Snowed In isn't it, there's only so much one can do in a cave before becoming bored. (Harhar.) Either that, or a series of one-shots! I don't know, I have to go flip through my many post-its with random ideas

Like it so far? See any mistakes? Any suggestions? (I need to work on making my chapters longer.) Please review!

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After what seemed like ages, Natsu was able to coax the dying embers into a small blaze, but it seemed only able to give them light, not warmth. Lucy huddled as far away from the ice and snow as she could possible get, hugging her legs, Natsu's scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Her eyes were closed as she sadly thought of all the warm mufflers, blankets, and gloves folded neatly in her closet.

"It-it's s-so...c-cold," she managed to get out, frantically rubbing her hands together. In all the excitement of the fire going out, Lucy had temporarily forgotten her migraine but now that the temperature had dropped, it had come back in full force--and then some.

Turning towards Dragon Slayer, who was amusing himself by juggling 3 small fireballs, she said, "N-n-natsu,...aren'ttt you c-cold at-t all?"

"Eh?" he said, glancing at her, "Nah, I'm good. Hey look!" He added a fourth. "Four!"

With the fourth fireball, the cave became noticeably warmer. Like a moth to a flame, Lucy stiffly scooted closer the source. '_It's so cold, I can't even bend my legs!' _she thought unhappily, '_How uncomfortable.'_

Natsu continued to add to his assortment of flaming objects. Soon he had eleven randomly shaped fireballs of assorted sizes flying through the air. "Alright, alright," he said determinately, "Right now, I've got eleven. You think I can do one more?"

"Hmm...yeah, I think so," said Lucy, who had happily regained feeling in her fingers. She was hoping that with one more fireball, she could possibly regain her toes as well. "Make the twelfth a big one!" she encouraged.

"Okay, okay," he said, his left hand quickly darting out to form a basketball shaped fireball. He threw it up into the rotation. "Here comes...number twelve!"

The twelfth fireball soared to the top of the arc and it began to make the descent into one of Natsu's waiting hands. But right before he caught it, it seemed to fizzle, causing his grip on it to slack.Lucy watched as if in slow-motion as the twelfth collided into the fourth and like falling stars, they all fell out of the sky.

"I can save it! I can save it!" Natsu cried, lunging forward to try to catch at least one of the falling fireballs, but he was unable to keep any of them from vanishing from contact with the icy stone floor.

Natsu collapsed on the ground with a disappointed sigh. "Alright, now I'm beat."

"What time do you think it is?" asked Lucy. She could slowly feel the coldness seep back into her limbs.

Turning over onto his back, Natsu folded his arms behind his head. "I'd say about eleven thirty. Cause it was around seven when that freak snowstorm hit." Counting on his fingers, he continued, "And I'd say it took 3 hours for me to do the wall thing. So total, I'd say, yep, eleven thirty."

Stretching herself out on the floor, Lucy glanced at the small fire, which had been reduced to a candlelight. _'Morning is a long time from now,' _she thought, _'I hope I don't turn into an ice cube over night...'_

"How do you think Happy's doing?" she asked, blowing warm air into her hands.

Natsu snapped his fingers, creating a small round fire the size of a quarter. "That lucky bum is probably in a warm bed, his stomach full of fish." He rolled the fire over the tips of his knuckles, transferring it from hand to hand. "We'll go get him tomorrow morning...But I'd give anything for some fire right now...Hey!" he said, propping his head up with a palm and a bent elbow, "Can't one of your stellar spirits make some fire for us?"

"Nope, they refuse to be called out until the weather is warmer."

"Ehh? What kind of spirits are those? Their master's friend is hungry!"

Lucy shrugged apologetically. "Well, we're not in mortal danger. There's no one pointing guns at us or holding knives to our throats."

Natsu resumed his position. "Starvation. You tell them it's called starvation."

'_Frozen to death is more like it,'_ she grumbled to herself, curling into a ball. _But really, would any of my spirits help? Sagittarius doesn't have anything to set on fire, having Virgo tunnel won't help much...calling Aquarius is DEFINITELY out of the question. Taurus too, who would want to cuddle with him?_ Suddenly, a glittering smiling image of Loki flashing a peace sign popped into her head. _Loki? He has that wonderfully warm looking jacket..._ But then another image of a flaming Natsu surfaced. '_What are YOU doing here?! Don't have you have anything to eat? Ugh, now it's freaking crowded!' complained image Natsu. _ Mentally sighing, she reasoned that summoning Loki would be more trouble then it was worth.

"Eh, whatever," Natsu grumbled, snatching the fireball out of the air. "G'night, Lucy, I'm going to sleep."

With the absence of the flames, Lucy felt any warmth they had provided vanish. Although she concentrated on taking deep breaths, she began to shiver. Time ticked by until her teeth started chattering as well, intensifying her headache.

"Hey Lucy, you hear that? That tapping noise?" asked Natsu, half-awake. "It sounds like someone's tapping on the wall..." Jumping up to try to peer through the ice-wall, he shouted, rapping on the wall with his knuckles, "Hey! Anybody out there?!"

Crossing his arms, he said, "I don't see anyone out there, actually it sounds like it's coming from...in here?" He turned around, "Lucy, I think it's from in--Hey Lucy, it's coming from you!"

"M-mm-my t-t-teeth ar-re ch-ch-attering..." she tried to say as Natsu bounded over to crouch near her.

"Are you alright? Here," he said, reaching down to gently frame her cheeks with his hands. Her hands instantly shot up clasp his. "You..are so warm," she gasped.

"Geez, you were that cold? Why didn't you say something?" he scolded, sitting down next to her.

She grinned as sheepishly as her frozen lips would let her.

Scoffing, he stretched out next to her. "That's twice now! The next time it happens, I'll wake up and you'll be gone, a popsicle will be there instead."

After wiggling her fingers and toes to get her circulation going, Lucy rearranged the scarf around her neck, thankful for both the company and the warmth beside her. Smiling, she said, "Good night, Natsu."

"G'Night."

As she lay in the dark, she brought her hands to her face, remembering Natsu's warm touch. '_There wasn't anything romantic about that, was there? He was just being a good friend. Making sure I don't freeze. Scolding me for not telling him sooner...He's so cute when he's concerned...Cute? No, he's not cute. We're friends! Friends don't think their nakama is cute.' _She blushed. '_Alright. Maybe just a little cute. Yes, a little cute is okay.'_

Moving one of her hands to her forehead, Lucy scowled. _ 'Now if only this stupid migraine would go away.'_

"You know what?" Natsu suddenly exclaimed, "Before you lose some fingers. Lift your head up."

She turned towards him. "...Wha?"

"C'mon, just lift your head."

Confused, she lifted her head up and felt a warm arm slide underneath it and a warmer body move closer...but a shoulder moved too close and bonked her right on her temple, causing her to grimace in pain.

"There. Now you won't freeze, hey, you okay?" he said, noticing her expression. "I don't...smell funny, do I?" He made a face.

Lucy tried to smile through the pain. "No, no, it's just, my head is still a bit sore from earlier today."

A thoughtful expression on his face, he leaned over and placed his free hand gently onto her forehead.

Caught by surprise, she tensed up...and then relaxed as her headache slowly faded away. "I can't tell you how much of a relief that is," she murmured.

Natsu chuckled. "Erza taught me this. This one time when were fourteen, I got beat up pretty bad and I couldn't go to sleep after. My muscles were screaming and I felt like someone had hammered a nail into my eye. Then she came, told me I'd be alright, and did this. It was so relaxing, I knocked out right after."

Lucy could feel the tension drain out of her body. _'It feels so good,' _she inwardly sighed. _'This eye thing is so relaxing...and so is being close to him...it's just so comfortable. Maybe that's why It doesn't feel weird anymore...I'm comfortable and I don't even care about the rent right now.'_

"Better now?" asked Natsu in a soft voice.

"Much better," she replied, just as softly.

"You sure? Is my hand too hot? You're kinda turning pink."

_'Oh God, he noticed me blushing. Take a deep breath, a deep breath...' _she panicked, scrunching her eyes shut. "Err, it's fine."

Natsu warily pulled his hand back. "I don't want to burn you or anything."

Lucy took one more deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "No, I...I like it. It feels nice."

The corners of his mouth turned up as his hand returned to its previous spot, his thumb and index at her hairline, the edge of his palm and his pinky finger right over her eyebrows.

"Hey Natsu."

"Hm?"

"Honestly, you didn't have any problem making the wall?" Lucy grinned, a bit impishly. "No problem at all? It _is_ made of ice, after all."

"...Well...no. No problem, what so ever. I'm sorry, I'm just good like that," he said smugly.

"There's no way! You're lying," she said, her grin growing as she continued to provoke him.

"Well then," he huffed, retracting his hand once again and rolling over. "Looks like I'll be needing this hand to brush some dirt off my shoulder."

Laughing, Lucy propped herself up to shake his shoulder. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she laughed. "Alright,...I'm sorry I doubted you."

Natsu rolled back with a gloating look on his face. "Alright then. I accept your apology. Never doubt my awesomeness."

She rolled her eyes, her sight wandering towards the ice wall. _'Well, he did do a good job, ' _she thought, looking at the crevices and indentations in the wall. '_It sure is a lot of ice...but wait a minute, does that little patch of ice there look like a...shoeprint?'_ After a few seconds of staring at the 3 inch deep indentation, she pieced it all together and she burst out laughing.

He gave her a funny look. "What's so funny?"

"I, I can't believe," she managed to say, gasping for air, "I can't believe you froze your foot into the wall!"

"What?! It doesn't even look like a foot!"

"Yes it does! Don't you see? That's your sandal-print! It looks like you froze your foot in the wall and then you pulled it out! That's why it's all cracked around here," she said, pointing at the cracks. "And look! See this? That's your cheek-print!" Lucy was laughing so much at the thought of Natsu's face pressed flush against the ice wall as he tried to pull his foot out without ruining his handiwork that her face ached.

"Psh, whatever," grumbled Natsu, staring up at the ceiling. "And I didn't freeze my arm in there either, just in case you're wondering."

The grin still plastered on Lucy's face grew. Natsu turned to glare at his cave-mate, and when he saw that she actually had tears flowing, he rolled over on his side, brought both hands palm forward in front of him, and firmly pushed.

The grin wiped off her face as she was pushed from the warm stone beneath her to the icy cold ground to her left. "Hey!" she protested, instantly tensing up at the rapid temperature change.

"Pff, no warmth for you," he said, his nose scrunched up.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she apologized as she began to scoot forward, the dragon scarf trailing behind her like a tail. He stuck his tongue out at her but allowed her to return, his arm snugly tucked in between the curve of her neck and the ground.

"So...can I have the hand back, please?" she asked, batting her eyelashes in mock puppy dog fashion. "Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

He smirked, an eyebrow raised. "That is so corny."

"Yeah, I know," she said, a grin on her face once again, "But look! I made you laugh, that counts for something."

Scoffing this time, he said, "Laugh? It was more of a smirk." Raising his hand, he brought it right over her forehead but stopped an inch away. His hand hovering there, he said, "Fine, I'll do it again but on one condition: We never speak of the freezing the limbs in the ice wall ever again. Got it?"

Lucy brought her index finger and her thumb up to frame her chin. "Hmm...I don't know. It would make some excellent table conversation, you know."

Just as he was about to say, "Fine then!" she reached up to place his hand firmly on her head. "Bah, you're all tense now," he grumbled, "Now I have to start from the beginning."

"Fine by me."

"I'm gonna give you the Natsu Special."

"...What? That sounds kind of scary," said Lucy, suddenly afraid for her eyebrows.

"I can put you to sleep in a minute or less, but there's a catch," Natsu said, raising his free hand, palm open. "Five thousand jewels."

"What?! No way, that's robbery!" she said, trying to pry his fingers up, but he had a firm grip.

"Ha! Look I started, too late!" he cackled as Lucy grimaced. '_Who knew he was such a crooked businessman.'_

"I..._refuse..._to pay that," she said slowly as she felt fine lines of heat stream from his fingers to the area around her temples.

"My record is Gray: 46.17 seconds," he said smugly.

"...You did this to Gray?" She struggled hold back a snicker.

"Hey, he was sick. I had to or else he would have died," he said defensively. "You're still awake! Take this!" With a light, feathery touch, he began to move his fingers in small circles.

As her eyelids began to droop, he did a quick check on his internal stopwatch which read something near 23 seconds. His face lit up as he said, "New record!" But Lucy was too far gone to care. Her eyelids felt heavier and heavier with each passing wave of warmth that spread from her face to her toes.

Natsu glanced down to see her eyes fully closed, the tension erased from her shoulders as she took deep, even breaths. "30 seconds. Not bad, not bad."

* * *

**A/N:** A friend of mine went to a spa and she says the face massage was the most relaxing thing she's ever felt. And 5K in Jewels is roughly equivalent to 50 US dollars. ...If I remember correctly lol. And sorry so late! The beach was calling me. XD Review please?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"How ironic, that when she falls asleep...I'm more awake," mused a slightly irritable Natsu. The infamous "Natsu Special" had put Lucy to sleep a whole fifteen minutes ago and while it was HE who put all the energy into it, it was also HE who had eyes that were wide open. He could feel the aches of fatigue all over his body but as hard as he tried, sleep wouldn't come.

He turned his head to look at his snoozing teammate with an amused grin. Her head was cradled in the crook of his arm, his fringes of his scarf spread out above her head like a halo. Who could have known that she slept with her mouth open? What he would have given for a camera...But eh. This train of thought was taking him farther from the realm of sleep then he'd like. AND he didn't really care for trains...

With a slight scowl, he wiggled the tight muscles in his shoulders to get more comfortable on the roughly paved floor. He envied Happy and his full stomach and warm covers...but he was only _slightly_ jealous. Maybe it wasn't so bad, spending a night in cave, sealed off from the world by an ice wall. Was it not so bad because of her? _'Psh, no way_,' he thought, '_We're nakama. That's it. Plus, sleeping on the ground'll work out all the kinks in my back. Yep.'_

Spending time alone with his female guild-mates wasn't new to Natsu, he'd done it before. There were the countless times he and Erza had fallen asleep on the ride home. Or rather, he was passed out and she was snoozing. There was even that one time he stayed up all night with Mira, Levi, and Cana playing Scrabble. But was Lucy any different? Erza, Mira, his guildmates, they were like his sisters. Lucy? She was a friend.

'_A really pretty friend,_' said a cheeky little voice in his head.

"FRIEND. The keyword is friend," Natsu argued. Of course, Lucy was his friend. And of course, he had always thought Lucy was...nice. Yes, nice was a safe term, he thought.

'_Oh, come on!'_ said the little voice, _'I saw the way you looked at her. I wouldn't have guessed that blonde was your type!'_

"Huh? What are you talking about?!" asked Natsu, embarrassed. He imagined himself building a mental wall between himself and that provocative voice he kept hearing.

'_And I bet that by the way you two flirted, she likes you back!'_ Why did it seem like someone was playfully elbowing him in the side?

"Eh...whatever." He closed his eyes to block out the voice and he couldn't help but replay the night's events in his head like a highlights reel. She'd been smiling, laughing, teasing him all night. But weren't those things Lucy usually did? What was so different?

The voice snorted, '_This is what's different, pal,'_ as Natsu promptly shut his eyes in an effort to keep the images out, but they involuntarily began to use the inside of his eyelids as a projector screen.

'What the hell, this is freakin' ridiculous!' Natsu thought, as he saw blue skies and white clouds? Then someone laughed, an infectious, good-natured, happy laugh and he caught himself laughing too. Lucy? Lucy was laughing, the breeze was blowing her bangs out of her face and her hand was outstretched. She was waiting. Waiting for what? He sees his hand reach out and take hers and instantly, instantly a warmth spreads from his fingertips, making the tops of his ears tingle. Her grim is soft yet firm and she's tugging him forward. Suddenly, they're running and she's laughing, then she stops. She stops and he runs into her arms and his fingers are tangled in her hair and he can't help but notice how beautiful she is when she laughs. And then--

His eyes sprang open. The blue skies and white clouds had vanished, leaving him blankly staring at the dark clots of dirt hanging by root tendrils to the ceiling. Natsu took a deep breath, his head swirling a bit at the disorientation, his heart beating a bit faster then normal. 'What...what was that?'

'_Eh, She's a good choice. She's got those pretty nifty keys. Not as cool as the chick with the swords and the disappearing armor. But she'll do.'_

"I must be going crazy," Natsu said sighed loudly, but maybe a bit too loudly as Lucy uttered a disgruntled something in her sleep. She had managed to twist his scarf so that it pulled tightly on her neck. With his free hand, he eased the tension in the woven fabric, accidentally trailing a finger against the soft skin on chin. Almost instantaneously, he felt a rush through his fingers and his cheeks flushed.

_'So...don't you want to kiss her?'_

"What?! No, I don't want to kiss her. We're nakama." His brain begged to be turned off and his muscles throbbed with a dull ache. It took a lot of work to build the wall! That was a good reason to be delirious, right? But, actually, his brain was sending him the signal that it very much wanted to stay awake if he ended up canoodling her...so maybe it wasn't such a good reason after all.

'_But--_'

"NAKAMA. I don't want to kiss my nakama," he repeated forcefully as he imagined being slapped continuously across the face if suddenly woke up and didn't like it one bit. _Natsu, You # pervert!_

_'Nah, it'd be more like this,' _said the voice as images of an enraged, fire-breathing Lucy, her hands brandishing a dozen golden keys as she summoned spirits to behead him, her voice full of rage as she screamed, '_How dare you try to kiss me, you vermin?!'_

Natsu's expression was grim as the voice cackled once or twice then was finally silent. '_Yep, not a good idea to kiss her,'_ he thought when all of a sudden, she mumbled something and rolled over, snuggling up to his shoulder with her face was angled towards his.

"Nakama nakama nakama nakama nakama," he chanted, turning his face away as far as he could because he could tell she used cinnamon scented shampoo and although he'd never mentioned to anyone, he was awfully fond of cinnamon.

But all he could think about was the way she laughed about freezing his arms in the ice wall, and the way her eyes twinkled underneath that blue sky, and the way her lips seemed like they were asking him to kiss them...

Then with a exasperated sigh, he expelled the doubts and gathered all the courage he could muster. He turned back to her gently sleeping face, closed her eyes and leaned forward, his lips parted slightly. He felt her warm breath on his cheek as she murmured something softly, but then suddenly, gravity overcame his eyelids, pulling them heavily shut. _'What?! I can't fall asleep at a time like--'_ But it was too late. Natsu swore he heard a disappointed groan from the farthest reaches of his mind as he felt himself drifting away from her, into an ill-timed but very relaxing slumber.

* * *

**A/N**: Whew! It feels like it's been forever. And no, I didn't forget. I'm taking yoga now, school started again (ugh, how sad), I got into Honor Society , and I'm knitting a Nautilus. I rather miss Lucy, I'm glad it'll switch back to her perspective next chapter.

I'm sorry this one is so short, but I guess it takes place in a matter of minutes so it's not so bad? Tell me if it seems kinda OCC, it's been so long since I've wrote Natsu dialogue, it probably is. Next chapter, they finally get to leave the cave! It's been 4 chapters, that's long enough. Hahaha.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For some reason, Lucy was in a log-cabin. She was sitting on a couch, her warm and toasty toes resting on a wooden coffee table, a fire crackling under the stone mantelpiece before her.

She didn't know why she was there. Or why Natsu's scarf was wrapped snugly around her neck. Perhaps this was a dream. A very interesting dream in which there seemed to be dancing rabbits in the corner. They were wearing little bow-ties...and she was quite sure that they doing the cha-cha? "Eh, who cares," she said out loud, stretching her arms above her head as she yawned. Dream or no dream, this was _way_ better then sleeping in a frozen cave.

Lucy furrowed her brow. Frozen cave? She vaguely remembered dragging some logs, peeing behind some ice cube thing, some warm fingers over her eyes... Err, something like that. '_Ah...oh well,'_ she shrugged absentmindedly. It didn't seem terribly important. What was important then? Lucy paused for a moment and then raised her hand.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bunny, can I please have some hot chocolate?"

A rabbit with a purple and yellow spotted bow-tie, who seemed to be the head honcho around these parts, suddenly sat up straight. Twitching his ears, he and his gang of bunnies scampered away.

Lucy frowned. How rude! She had even asked nicely. Then, hearing a faint tinkling noise, she turned and gasped in surprise and delight. Mr. Bunny had returned! Between them, the rabbits were balancing a small silver tray onto the wooden coffee table. It held a small kettle, a plate with tiny marshmallows, and a set of mugs. There was one bunny-sized mug for each rabbit and two larger, human-sized ones.

Mr. Bunny poured some cocoa into Lucy's cup. Thanking the rabbits, she happily accepted her cup and carefully added three marshmallows. Lightly blowing the steam off her mug, she glanced at the other human-sized cup, which the rabbit was also filling. Were they expecting company?

She peered down at her cocoa. Her marshmallows were melting quite quickly as she blew on them again and watched the surface ripple. Mr. Bunny tapped her knee, offering Lucy the plate of marshmallows. She gladly took two more and was about to drop them into her cup when she noticed something odd. "Hmm...it rippled by itself?"

Looking over to the other rabbit's cups, she saw that their cocoa seemed to be rippling as well. Then she felt it--The floor and the walls of the cabin began to shake, causing the flames to flicker. An earthquake? No, the vibration was too inconsistent. Visions of some old dinosaur movie flashed through her mind...but that was a movie and this was a dream. _'This is a dream, ohmygawd, that could happen because this is a dream!'_ Then she could hear it--the deep, echo of the footsteps of something big...and very heavy. The cabin was vibrating so badly that the rabbits were struggling to keep their drinks from spilling. _'Oh gosh, it sounds like its right outside...'_ Lucy panicked. With one last boom, the footsteps stopped. Lucy and the rabbits froze, clutching their teacups in the dim light of the fire...which abruptly roared to life. Lucy almost dropped her cup as the rabbits abandoned theirs for the safety of the couch. She gathered them all into her arms...except for Mr. Bunny, who had held his ground on the table as they heard three distinct knocks on the door.

Mr. Bunny swiveled his ears and much to the other rabbit's surprise, he began to hop to the door. "NOOO!!!" cried Lucy, imagining a blood-thirsty, hungry T-Rex at the doorstep. But the rabbit straightened his bunny bowtie and then with one quick leap he jumped up to the door handle, pulling the door open with his paws. The wooden door opened with a woosh, letting in a gust of icy air. The outline of..._something _roughly human-shaped was obscured by a cloud of snowflakes.

Lucy could feel her heart beating quickly in her chest but it was nothing compared to the fluttering hearts of the scared rabbits. This formerly pleasant dream was quickly becoming a nightmare. _'What is that thing?_' She wondered as the figure it thudded into the cabin with slow, heavy steps, clutching it's bulky bundle. _'And what is it carrying?' _

As it moved closer to the flame, Lucy watched as the figure handed what seemed to be a brown paper bag to Mr. Bunny, who grasped it between his paws and brought it to the coffee table. Mr. Bunny reached in and pulled out a package...of chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies. With happy squeaks, the other rabbits jumped out of her embrace, munching on two to three cookies each.

She was confused. Did most rabbits hire monsters with lead boots for cookie runs? Still alert, she warily turned to said monster, who had shuffled uncomfortably close the couch. With a sharp intake of breath, she saw that the monster's rough, club-shaped fists were human hands in bulky gloves. And it's thick, short, neck was made up of several thick, rough wool scarves. Out of huge, thick snowshoes, it pulled out normal, human-sized feet as it shed it's coarse overcoat to reveal the lean frame of a teenage boy. As it continued to unraveled itself, Lucy noticed something bright poking out from the top of the monster-boy's mountain of scarves--a tuft of hair. And there was something familiar about that color...

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "...Pink hair?" she exclaimed, with just an ounce of "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me."

"Psh, what's with you people!," said the monster-boy, loosening the last of his scarves to reveal a slim scowl, "It's salmon."

He pulled his cumbersome gloves off and tossed them over his shoulder, turning towards Mr. Bunny, who had extended his little bunny paw into the air. "Sup, 'yo!" exclaimed the boy, bumping fist to paw as he stretched out on the sofa, taking a quick swig of hot chocolate from his mug.

"Come on, Luce, don't you want a cookie?" asked the boy, his mouth full of shortbread.

Lucy was dumbfounded. _Of all places, hes...here? _

"Natsu," she asked, "...what are you doing in my dream?"

* * *

**A/N**: Yeah, I know it's short. And rather side-tracking the blanket-fic genre...but I was in a rather random mood today. And Natsu and Lucy can't be doing any fun things together while they're sleeping so why not do fun things while they're dreaming! Dream sequences are just so fun.

So don't worry if it doesn't make sense all, next chapter will be my favorite and they'll be back in the cave (and perhaps out of it too! woohoo!) soon. And I think I may have promised that last time as well.

Haha. I don't really care for shortbread. I prefer Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. And I worked in the short Jurassic Park reference because Micheal Crichton passed away and I loved his stories. ;_;


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Well, it's a _dream_, duh" stated dream-Natsu, as if dancing rabbits and waking up in log cabins was perfectly normal. "_Aaaanything _can happen in a dream."

"Wellllllllll then," said Lucy, " This is MY dream, and what are YOU doing in it?"

"Hmm, I dunno. Maybe so I could do something like this?" With a lazy snap, a red envelope materialized out of thin air into his waiting palm. He quickly slit the flap open. "How's this for magic?" he said with a flourish, displaying a small certificate.

She snatched the thick card stock, reading the gold text outloud. "The balance due for Lucy Heartphillia's apartment totals...z---ZERO jewels." She was dumbstruck and her eyes were as big as saucers. No rent payment? She clutched the paper to her chest, exclaiming, "This is the best dream ever!"

"Yeah, too bad it's only a dream," said Natsu, sticking out his tongue as the paper sizzled out as quickly as it had been created. "And c'mon now, you're dreaming of me! We're going to have all sorts of fun, Lucy," he cackled.

Lucy was rather miffed. Natsu?! Of all people to dream about, she was dreaming about Natsu? It could have been _anyone_--Grey, Loki, even Luxus but it was _him._ And even more-so, she was dreaming of her AND Natsu, ALONE in a log cabin (with dancing bunnies, but they didn't really count). It was just like that stupid frozen cave she was trapped in in real life! All those stupid feelings she had felt earlier, about liking being close to him and about his stupid warm hands were forgotten. She would have much liked to be dreaming about--

"Prince Charming? Riding up on his white horse, clad in shining armor?" Natsu interrupted. Then, with a rather knowing smile, he grinned, waving a cookie in the air. "Or would you prefer that chicken-haired ninja boy who only says 'Hm'. What was his name..."

Lucy glared at him, willing her eyes to shoot the iciest of daggers. How dare he! Bursting into her formerly pleasant dream, teasing her with the fake "get-out-of-rent-free" card, making fun of her beloved--

"SASUKE. Ah ha! His name is Sasuke!" Natsu had raised his pointer finger in silent (but still gloating) triumph. "But wait, you're not dreaming of _him,_ you're dreaming of _me_. I wonder what that means?" He turned to face her, smiling ear to ear.

She groaned, covering her face with her hands. This was going to be a long dream.

"But you know," he conversationally, stirring a cookie into his beverage, his tone more serious then she expected, "You don't want one of those Prince Charmings."

"Oh really?" Now he was giving her relationship advice? _HIM_ of all people? What an outrageous dream. No matter how hard she pinched herself, she showed no signs of waking, so she figured she might as well entertain his notions. "And why is that?" she challenged.

"Life would be absolutely no fun that way, " he declared, nonchalantly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Fun?"

"Yeah, he'll bore you to death no matter which one you get. Either you get sick of Mr. I'm-Perfect-All-The-Time-Can-I-Kiss-Your-Shoes or you'll be so lonely with Mr. I-Don't-Care-What-You're-Wearing-Just-Hurry-The-Hell-Up."

Lucy was a bit surprised. One, there was no way the _real_ Natsu would be having this discussion with her. Second, he was stringing together such a large quantity of words. How un-Natsu like! But wait, this was a dream. Riiight. But she did _suppose _that he was _somewhat_ right. Life would be more interesting with a slight amount of trouble. But exactly what kind of trouble?

But still, she wasn't close to renouncing her dear Prince Charming completely. She sighed. There was, in truth, just one thing she wanted and it was just the plain truth that the normal guys in her life couldn't--

"Dance?" Natsu cut in.

Her eyes shot up. "What did you say?"

He flashed a toothy grin, swinging his long legs up out to push the coffee table to the mantle. With a loud, protesting "Kya!," Lucy was thrown backwards as she and the couch were pushed farther back into the room. Mr. Bunny and his gang leapt from the table to the top of the fireplace, where a rabbit-sized record player was housed. "Come here," he said, extending his hand.

Lucy picked herself up and straightened her hair. "Natsu, what are you doing?" she asked, a bit bewildered.

"Ah, you slowpoke, you're so slow" He exclaimed with an exaggerated mock sigh as he reached over and pulled her closer. Then to her surprise, he bowed and of all un-Natsu-like things, he _kissed_ her hand. "May I have this dance?"

She couldn't help but laugh. Oh jeez, this dream was _rich_. Not only was he giving her relationship advice, he was asking her to _dance_.

"Oh, c'mon, you have to play along," he said, more like himself now, expertly taking her right hand and slipping his other around her waist. "Ready?"

Before she could say anything, his rabbit conductor took that as a cue and started the music. And then they were dancing. No matter how hard she tried, Lucy couldn't stop looking at his eyes. Were they always this distracting? Maybe it was the way the firelight made the bronze flicker like gold.

He seemed amused. "See something you like?" He teased as he spun her into a twirl.

Lucy blushed a deep scarlet. Thank goodness she had been facing away from him when it happened. "Err,...no. Nothing in particular," she stammered, sniffling in between words.

"Lies. You sniffle when you lie," said Natsu, a bit smugly.

"No, I don't...I don't," she attempted, but she couldn't get it out because her nose insisted on betraying her and wouldn't stop sniffling. She sighed resignedly. "Ah, darn it."

He laughed. But it wasn't his usual, "Oh-we-are-going-to-wreak-some-HAVOC!" kind of guffaw. To Lucy, it seemed more of a "Its-so-funny-how-she-doesn't-see-how-beautiful-she-truely-is" sort of chuckle. She felt a bit of color rise to cheeks again and with a slightly breathy voice, she asked, "How'd you know?"

Shrugging, Natsu spun them back to the center of the room. "Like I'd tell you," he scoffed, "But I will tell you one thing."

"And what is that?"

The corners of his mouth rose slightly. Suddenly, Lucy felt his grip tighten around her waist and found herself leaning backwards, her left leg sliding out by instinct. Her heart began to beat faster as he leaned forward, his lips brushing her cheek, causing her to shudder.

"I bet'cha Uchiha Sasuke can't do this," he murmured. But right before their lips met, an unnaturally bright light began to stream through the cabin windows. Lucy shut her eyes and took a deep breath, not ready for this dream to end, but she could still feel his arms around her. Then, as soon as she could feel something chilly nipping at her toes, the light began to fade.

She opened her eyes and sat up. The light was still bright but as her eyes began to focus, she found herself staring not at the oak planks of a wooden cabin but the rough walls of a rock cave. '_Bleh, it's over_,' she thought, her senses still fuzzy from sleep, '_And it was a pretty good dream too. But oh well, back to sleep,_' With her free hand, she adjusted the scarf around her neck and snuggled back into her pillow, pulling her blanket back over her shoulders.

_Hmm, this pillow is harder then I remembered,' _she thought, squeezing her eyes tighter in irritation as she began to elbow her pillow, hoping to soften it up. Then suddenly, the pillow _groaned_ and began to move. Her eyes widened and she whipped her face up.

A mix of emotions began to run through her mind. She wanted to smile like a senseless fool and at the same time bludgeon herself to death with a blunt object because apparently, much to her horror and delight, she had spent an entire night in the arms of Natsu Dragonil.

**

* * *

A/N: **Hey guys. I feel like one of those people that keep saying, "ONE MORE TIME!" because I keep saying they'll get out but they haven't...yet.

I was originally going to put Edward Cullen instead of Sasuke...but then I remembered that Edward can dance, quite well. So that wouldn't be as fun. I doubt hot, angsty, ninja boys can do the waltz as well. Haha.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was morning and the air was cold enough for her to trace the smoke-like trail left by her breath. But Lucy wasn't paying attention to that very much. She was a bit too preoccupied with _him_. Although she had started out sleeping at the crook of Natsu's elbow, overnight she had rolled over so that her head was on his shoulder. One of his arms was tucked under his head but the other...the other was wrapped quite snugly around her shoulders.

'_Survival,' _she tried to convince herself, '_If he didn't do this, I would have died..." _However, that did nothing to explain why her free hand was so casually draped around his neck...or why she rather liked it.

She drew her hand back to feel the portion of her cheek that felt warmer then the rest of her body. Was it a coincidence that it was where that smooth-talking yet mischievous Dream-Natsu had brushed his lips?

_'Psh, of course not.'_ Lucy pulled herself up, propping her body with her elbow for support to come into view of his face.

Of all the members of Fairytail, Natsu was the closest to her. She had seen him ecstatic, she had seen him disappointed, she had seen him exhausted, full of rage, surprised, jealous, triumphant, she had even seen him afraid. But yet, this was the first time she had seen him so _still_. Even when he had slept on their past missions, he always seemed ready for anything but sleep...but here, he seemed so content, so calm. She laughed softly. What a change from last night when he was juggling fireballs!

The rays of the morning sun streamed through the ice, reflecting the light like a stained glass window. Out of impulse, she brushed his bangs out of his face and perhaps out of instinct, his hand automatically came up to loosely grasp hers. '_Oh crap, did I wake him up?_' she thought, ready to pull away, but thankfully, he was still out. She breathed a sigh of relief.

As the sunlight danced throughout the cave, she still found herself staring at his face. '_He's nakama, and he's _Natsu,' she thought, '_But he's just so...'_

Then involuntarily, her mind began to flash: his crooked grin, warm hands, his rather woodsy scent. But her mind seemed to be fixated on one thing--the anticipation of the moment just as he was about to kiss her. And then she couldn't stop thinking about--

"Enough," she said, exhaling slowly, willing herself to stop thinking and just _do._ She blinked twice and then with gentlest of motions, she leaned forward, brushing her lips against his with the lightest of pressures.

After a few moments, she slowly pulled away, not wanting to wake him. He murmured something softly, turning in her direction but he showed no signs of waking. Was it her imagination, or did he seem to be blushing a little?"Nah, he's just sleeping," Lucy mumbled, pleased with herself. She reluctantly loosened his grasp on her hand, tenderly stroking his cheek before she stood up, a soft smile on her face as she made her way to the makeshift door of melting ice that led to the bathroom.

Just as the door shut, resounding with a dull thud, a grin began to spread on the _supposedly_ sleeping boy's face. Natsu cocked open one eye, extremely glad for his acting skills because although she smelled of cinnamon, she tasted very sweetly of strawberry chapstick.

* * *

"How the heck did he do all of this?" Lucy wondered, twisting the knob of the bathroom door. It wasn't just a crude ice carving, it honestly did resemble a door knob. "I must have been knocked out for a while," she remarked, estimating the time it had taken him to craft everything, and also very thankful that the swelling had gone down. "And I guess it's about time to wake him too," she said, entering the cave. But to her surprise, he was already awake, sprawled out on the cave floor, stretching.

"Sup, Luce, morning, morning," he yawned as he stood up, stretching his arms above his head.

"Looks like someone slept well," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, you! Isn't the famous Natsu special something?" he grinned, flashing her a thumbs up. "But hey, you still owe me five thousand jewels, remember?" He began to rub his fingers together, mouthing 'Moolah!' at her.

Lucy gave the blankest stare she could manage. "You've got to be kidding me."

"But it worked, didn't it?"

"W-Well, yeah, but, but that's robbery! Five thous--" she sputtered, but she was interrupted when he held his hand up in front of her face.

"It's alright," he said solemnly, "I take payment plans. Now we can discuss this over breakfast, ready to go?"

"Wait, wait, you're kidding, right? You're really going to make me pay for that?!" she complained, scrambling to throw everything into her pack.

"Hmm...maybe if you rub my shoulders...," Natsu said, his palms glowing bright red as he pressed them against the edges of ice, melting it, "I'll give you a discount."

"Really? Okay, sure!" Lucy grinned, moving to enthusiastically knead the muscles of his shoulders as he worked. "So...how big of a discount are talking about here?" She asked.

"Eh, we're friends so maybe...five percent. That's pretty good, right?"

Instantly dropping her hands, she sarcastically scoffed, "What a wonderful deal that is, Natsu. I am ever so grateful."

He turned his face to her, an amused smirk on his features. "Yeah, I know. I'm pretty generous, aren't I?"

With a loud crack, the ice finally gave way and Natsu was able to heave the heavy block out, letting in a gust of chilly but refreshing mountain air. Lucy looked around as she walked into the sunlight, amazed because the landscape had changed dramatically overnight. The path they used to get to their cave had vanished, leaving the mountain covered with a fresh blanket of powdery snow. It would have been the perfect morning for skiing...but, important matters first. How were they going to get down from here? Lucy shielded her eyes from the sun. Far in the distance, she could see the bright gold tile of Blanche's village rooftops. '_This is going to be a LONG hike,_' she groaned inwardly, _'But at least it's downhill_.'

"Hey Lucy, check this," she heard, and as she turned, she saw that he was poised over the slab of ice, his mouth overflowing with flame. As Natsu sprayed a column of fire over the ice, it began to melt into a shape. The ice began to steam as it melted, so Lucy couldn't quite make out what he was making.

"A dinosaur!" she guessed. It...kinda looked like a dinosaur. It was rather bulbous in the middle. Kinda (but honestly, not really).

Natsu paused from his work and looked up, wearing a slightly incredulous expression. "Are you kidding me?" he laughed, taking in a deep breath as he let loose another burst of flame.

"Okay then," she said, as the ice began to take an elongated shape. "A banana?"

"No."

Now, he had flattened the majority of it into a thinner slab, but one end, he had rolled up. Kind of like... "A half rolled cinnamon roll?"

"No."

Flipping the slab over, Natsu carved four deep grooves, lengthwise, into the bottom with his fingers. Turning it right side up, he set it onto the snow. "Finished!"

As the steam began to clear, Lucy could finally make out the shape. "A...toboggan?"

"Well, yeah. How else did you want to get to the village? Walk?" Natsu grinned, dusting off some icy residue from the seat. "Now I know this isn't a fancy white horse," he started, "but--"

"Hey Natsu," Lucy interrupted. White horse as in Knight in Shining Armor as in Prince Charming? As in the discussion of last night's dream? This was a sign from the stars, she was definitely sure of it. And she should know, she was a stellar spirit mage, after all. "...Natsu, do you know how to dance?"

"What? Psh, no," he said, crossing his arms, "Me? Dance? Nope. Wrong guy."

"Oh...sorry, must have been someone else then," she said. Lucy was a bit disappointed because although it was just a dream, deep down inside, a part of her wanted it to be true. But then again he was biting his lips...and she knew him well enough to know that it was something he did when he was lying.

"You sure?" she tried again, "Perhaps a little of the..." But Natsu was already shaking his head.

"...Waltz?" At that, his eyes widened then quickly narrowed.

"So...you _know_," he said through gritted teeth, pointing at her. "Who told you? Was it Grey? He promised he wouldn't tell! I swear, I will _slaughter_ him when we get back."

"No, it wasn't him. I just had...a hunch," she said casually, grinning. "So, how'd you learn?"

Natsu blew a gust of hot air. "Igneel made me take lessons," he mumbled, dragging the sled to the edge of the slope, impatiently gesturing for Lucy to get on.

Lucy was all smiles now. "Can you dance anything else besides the waltz?" she asked, settling herself into position. She hoped the ride would be fast, sitting on a block of ice was a tad bit uncomfortable.

"Err, a little swing and salsa. And I've got some mean b-boy skills," he grinned sheepishly, getting on behind her. He was just about to push off, then he remembered, his eyes narrowing once more as he pulled at her scarf until she was leaning into him. "If you repeat any of this," he said in a low voice, very close to her ear, "I'm going to have to kill you."

Lucy smiled, an innocent smile, as she turned her head to her shoulder. "Don't worry," she said, reaching backwards to pat his cheek, "We can work something out over breakfast, ready to go?"

"Oh ho, quite bold, Luce," said Natsu, his hand framing his chin, "Resorting to blackmail now, are we?"

Lucy only shrugged. "Well, what can I do? Apparently, I'm down five thousand jewels," she replied.

Natsu grumbled something then wrapped an arm around her waist, anchoring the other deep into the snow. With a quick shove, he pushed the sled over the edge and they were off, sledding down the slope to the village.

The wind whipped through her hair and the chilly air stung her cheeks but she didn't care. Leaning into Natsu was rather comfortable. His grip was firm and he radiated enough heat to warm her up but not melt their transportation.

Just as they were almost to their destination, Natsu moved his head until his chin was resting lightly on her shoulder. "So, I was thinking. Maybe if I forget a little service charge, you can forget a little thing about, I don't know, _dancing_?"

"Hmm," said Lucy, as the sled skidded to a stop outside the village border, "I _guess_ I could. It does make for some juicy table conversation."

He glared at her, jumping off the sled and slowly slicing his pointer finger across his neck.

"I was only kidding!" She burst out laughing but immediately stopped because the villagers were approaching. And they were rolling something round and blue.

"...What _is _ that?" she asked.

"I dunno. A large blueberry," replied Natsu, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Hello there!" greeted the village elder, an old man with a long beard and a bright green cap. "I'm glad you're alright, we thought you two had been buried in the storm!"

"We were able to find a cave for shelter," explained Lucy, still eyeing the ball warily. It looked a bit familiar...

"Oh that's good! But you'll be happy to know that the path you two made was completely spared!"

"Really?" asked Natsu, in disbelief. "But that snow storm was pretty bad..."

"It was sheltered by all these fallen pine trees! The trees made a giant fence, shielding our lovely path. You mages from Fairytail sure do some nice work!" said the elder, very pleased.

But not as pleased as Natsu was. At the elder's comments, he immediately turned to Lucy, and it was very clear that his expression meant "Ah Ha! I told you so, I'm so freaking awesome." To which, she rolled her eyes.

"But on another note," said the elder, gesturing for his men to roll the blue ball to the front, "I think this is yours."

As the ball rolled, Lucy spotted a tiny pair of wings attached to its back. "Oh God..that can't be," she whispered to Natsu.

"No way. It can't be," he whispered back, "Happy's way too smart to--"

"Hey guys!" said the ball, once it's face was rolled upwards, out of the snow.

"...Happy, what happened to you?" Natsu asked, tentatively. Happy had ballooned from his normal cat-self to the diameter of a large basketball.

"Aye...the village speciality is flying fish soaked in miso and grilled till its crispy on a hibachi."

"...Your...favorite," said Lucy. _'How much did that crazy cat eat?!_ ' she thought.

"Well, he took shelter in the shed housing our cooling vats. He ate through a quarter of our entire stock before he passed out," described the elder. "And that brings us to your reward money...I'm afraid that the cost of the fish was equal to the money we owe you. And of that which the young lady was promised as well."

"Wait, so you're saying," garbled Natsu, his jaw dropping.

"I'll have no money for rent," Lucy gasped, mortified.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking," smiled the elder. "But we do hope you enjoyed your time in our village! And the path you built was lovely!"

* * *

Natsu absentmindedly rolled his friend as the trio made their way to the train station. He wasn't entirely upset, Happy, his best friend, had happily survived the storm, even if it had cost them their salary. And he had ended up with a night with Lucy. Not bad, not bad.

But Lucy was a different story.

"What. Am I going to do. About my rent?!" She was livid. Who cared if screeching was undignified? She had been counting on that job to pay for her apartment.

"There's always that call girl listing," said Happy.

"Not helping, not helping," Natsu warned under his breath as Lucy glared fiery daggers in their direction and stomped off, the dragon-scaled scarf flapping in the wind.

Natsu sighed. Lucy was angrily storming up the path to the post office, not the train station. Looks like he'd have to go get her. "Wait here," he told Happy, balancing the bloated cat in a pothole on the side of the road as he ran off after her.

He was surprised at how far she'd managed to get, he had to sprint to catch up to her. And there she was, standing under a snow-laden pine bough, her face all scrunched up in frustration.

"You know," he panted, "...You move pretty fast."

"What am I going to do?" Lucy wailed, "I'm going to lose my apartment!"

"No, you're not. When we get back, we'll take another job."

"What if we don't?" she exclaimed, "Then I'm going to have to move out. No, I'm going to have to take that callgirl job and there is _no _freaking way--"

She was cutoff as Natsu abruptly stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her. He pulled back, but kept his hands firmly on her shoulders. "There. Better now?"

Lucy glared at him but her cheeks flushed. "No," she said indignantly, "It still doesn't solve the problem of--"

But she was cut off once again as he leaned forward, kissing her. "How about now?"

Lucy was, to plainly put it, breathless. All her pent up emotions had evaporated away and she felt surprisingly calm, staring up at those gold-flecked eyes. But then she had an idea.

"Actually, no," she said, "I don't feel any better."

Natsu blinked. If it had stung, he hid it well. "Oh. Sor--"

"Perhaps if you tried again, it'll work better this time?" She suggested.

And so he did, embracing her as the frayed fringes of her borrowed scarf tickled his chin. "How 'bout this time?" he asked, "Success?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Lucy, not caring about the snow and ice, her red cheeks, or that darn rent. And perhaps everything was...not so bad. Of course, she and Natsu would have to do another job--quick. As soon as they got back, she was definitely going to request a mountain mission...one with a high probability of getting snowed in.

* * *

**A/N**: Yay! Complete! I'm rather proud of myself that I ended on chapter #7. How lucky, how lucky. ^^ AND, this was my longest chapter, to date! hurray!

To all of you who liked my story enough to review, this was for you.


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